April 01, 2012 (Vuokatti, Finland) – Canada’s Mark Arendz finished second overall on the IPC World Cup for the second straight season following a fourth-place finish in Sunday’s pursuit race in Vuokatti, Finland.

Searching for this third straight podium in as many races, the 22-year-old Paralympian skied short of the podium with a time of 40:53.5 after missing three shots in four rounds of shooting in the men’s standing 12.5 kilometer pursuit competition.

“I struggled a little on the range this morning during the zero,” said Arendz. “I thought I figured it out but the first bout proved I hadn’t. After a correction I was back in the hunt, but a final mistake in my last shooting cost me a chance to be in the medals. It wasn’t to be today.”

World Cup winner, Nils-Erik Ulset of Norway, won the final event of the year with a golden time of 39:26.5. Grygorii Vovchynskyi, of the Ukraine, shot clean tofinish third at 39:41.1.

A gold and silver medal earlier this week, Arendz wrapped up the season with six medals to finish second overall in consecutive years.

“I’m really pleased with how the season went. Coming into the year I knew I had to work on my skiing to achieve better results. My skiing is stronger now withsmarter training and increased volume.”

“Last year I felt I was racing in a dream with the great results I had,” added Arendz. “This year I was maturing as a racer and always fighting for the results. I am extremely happy to finish second in the overall World Cup.”

Brian McKeever and Erik Carleton, both of Canmore, Alta., clocked an 11th-place time of 46:13.6 in the men’s visually impaired division, while Quebec’s Sebastien Fortier was 22nd in the men’s sit-skiing race with a time of 1:02:21.0.

Full results HERE.